Tire expander



-w. RUSH TIRE EXPANDER Filed July 10, 1946 Nov. 18, 1947.

2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

fJ/LL/HM FUEH MJWW 18,1947. w RUSH 2,430,996

TIRE EXPANDER Filed July 10, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I V 4 3 ;29 2o 1 5O Patented Nov. 18, 1947 umrsn PATENT OFFICE.

The present inventionrelatestoimprovements.

in a tire expander.

My invention is particularly applicable to. the;

spreading of tire casings such; as, are. used on.

trucks and the larger tire casings usedon. farm.

tract-ors-a dth-e like. It has the advantage, how,- ever; that it may be used on, tires, of; pleasure vehicles andthetire casings can beexpandedas,

mucir desired with. a minimum loss of. time and a minimum obstruction of the space. adjacent thetire is spread sothat ready access. can had to the-tire tube forgremoving it: or inspecting it. Tire casings often arequite stiiij andthe casing mayalsobestuck to the inner tube. With. my device; thetire may" beexpan'dedi at any. point in circumference and after, expanding the, tire.

at one point, it is a simple, matter to shift to another'point forexpanding; the tire there.

it isthe-principalpurpose of my invention. to

provide a-novel tireexpanderuti-lizing a lever and pawl arrangement and embodying hooks at one end of the tool-which can be nested to engage in e Small pa between the beads of any tire, one of the the engaging hooks being operable by alever to ispreadnthe tire-apart asmuch as desired Without projecting anything beyond the other side of the the.

It is also a purpose of my invention to provide an improved construction of a tire expander whereby the tool is light in" weight yet strong enough, for all purposes.

The novel features tha t I 'oonsider character"- istic of my invention are set forth with particu larity in the claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its organization and its method of operation, together'with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be understood from the description of a specific embodiment when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side view of the tire expander showing it applied to a tire;

Figure 2 is a sectional View on the line 2-2 illustrating the construction of the tire expanding hooks;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating the mounting on the pawls of the tire expander;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken lengthwise through the tool on the line 44 of Figure 3; and

Figure 5 is a sectional View taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 3.

Referring nowto the drawings, my improved tire expander comprises a jack bar III which is 1 rectangular; in; cross sectionl. This; iacl: bar has:

a: handle: M? mcuntedi on one: end; thereof: and has: a seriesof. notches, 12 extending; along: one side. edge. A. like series of" notches: I3.- extend' along;

theopnosite side-edgepofithebar' til;these:notches:v

being staggered. with respectato: thes. notches L25. At theendrof. the bar H]v opposite; the: handle. lilfi.

a hook M for engaging the tire is provided. This.

hookcomprises a round: rodbent. until; itis substantially U-shaped, asillustrated bestbyFigura 2, and curved at 5-5 intermediatetheends so; that; l

the hook faces: away from, the bar itself.. The

hook. it is-.-w.eldedv to the end: of the banandzhasr itslegs .hlA-and l 53 extended across-;the:bar. and:- curved-to providea hook portion l-fiicurvedrtowand. the handle ll. 'l his hookportionlfizisutilizedito;

hang. the tool on asuitablehanger WhGIlfitiSEl'lOlJl in-.use..

Atravelingsleeve i isslidably mountedionther.

bar In ancilhasfixedzthereto a U-shaped-membenl8.,Which provides spaced bars I 9 and:2il on=-oppo.- site. sides. ofithebar ll) Theserbars- L9 andi have ahookllflweld'ed totheirlower ends, .t-he leg-s; ZTl'AandZ'lBof thehook being curved astindicatedl at ZZJbetWeen. their. ends so as toprovide ahook'.

that faces toward. the handle H on thejack bar: Ill; The. member. liilisweldeditothe, endotthe:

sleeve at.2 3"and.the bars wand 20. areseeuredz intermediate their. ends to the: sleeve. ll by two: screw studs 24' and 2.5".

The screw studs Ziland. 2.5..alsoprovide pivots for two arms 26 and 2'! of a lever 28. The lever 28 as shown best by Figures 3 and 5 has two pawls 29 and 30 pivoted thereon with their tip portions 3| and 32 adapted to engage the notches I2 and I3 of the bar l0. Springs 33 and 34 are mounted on the lever 28 and positioned to press the pawls 29 and 30 against the opposite side edges of the bar 10. The pawls 29 and 30 have extensions 35 and 36 which may be grasped by the hand of the operator to hold the pawls out of engagement with the bar. The lever 28 has a handle 3! at its free end.

The operation of the device in expanding a tire is illustrated in Figure 1 where the tire is shown in full lines before being expanded and in dotted lines after expansion. To apply the tool to the tire, the sleeve is moved out on the jack bar I0, until the hooks l4 and 2| nest as shown in Figure 1 and their tip portions are brought substantially together. In this position the tips can be placed within a tire casing. Then by manipulation of the lever 28 the hook 2| can be moved to the right with respect to the hook l4 until the entire casing is expanded the desired amount. It is a simple matter to release the tool since it is only necessary to grasp the extensions 35 and 3B and hold the pawls away from the notches in the bar II]. The tool has the advantage that the parts are light in weight and yet sufficiently strong to expand any tire. The tool projects only from one side face of the tire so that the tire can be expanded while lying upon a surface such as a floor without any difiiculty.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A tire expander comprising a elongated j ack bar having a hand grip on one end and a tire bead engaging hook extending transversely from the bar at its other end, said bar having notches on its opposite side edges staggered with respect to each other, a traveler sleeve having an opening slidably receiving said bar and having bars fixed thereto and extending toward the hook carrying end of th jack bar, said bars having a transversely extending hook fixed thereto at their ends adapted to cooperate with the first named hook in expanding a tire, a lever pivoted on said traveler sleeve, two pawls pivotally mounted on said lever on opposite sides of the sleeve and having notch engaging tips projecting beyond the sleeve toward the hook end of the jack bar, and spring means urging said tips toward the jack bar.

2. A tire expander comprising an elongated jack bar having a band grip on one end and a tire bead engaging hook extending transversely from the bar at its other end, said bar having notches on its opposite side edges staggered with respect to each other, a traveler sleeve having an opening slidably receiving said bar and having bars fixed thereto and extending toward the hook earrying end of the jack bar, said bars having a transversely extending hook fixed thereto at their ends adapted to cooperate with the first named hook in expanding a tire, said hooks comprising U-shaped members with curved leg portions one of which has the leg portions spaced farther apart than the other so the intermediate portion of said legs may overlap in initially engaging the tire beads, a lever pivoted on said traveler sleeve, two pawls pivotally mounted on said lever on opposite sides of the sleeve and having notch engaging tips projecting beyond the sleeve toward the hook end of the jack bar, and spring means a jack bar having a hand grip on one end and a tire bead engaging hook extending transversely from the bar at its other end, said bar having notches on its opposite side edges staggered with respect to each other, a traveler sleeve having an opening slidably receiving said bar and having bars fixed thereto and extending toward the hook carrying end of the jack bar, said bars having a transversely extending hook fixed thereto at their ends adapted to cooperate with the first named hook in expanding a tire, a lever pivoted on said traveler sleeve, two pawls pivotally mounted on said lever on opposite sides of the sleeve and having notch engaging tips projecting beyond the sleeve toward the hook end of the jack bar, and spring means urging said tips toward the jack bar, the jack bar having a second hook opposite to the first named hook and hooked toward the handle end of the bar.

4. A tire expander comprising an elongated jack bar having a hand grip on one end and a tire bead engaging hook extending transversely from the .bar at its other end, said bar having notches on its opposite side edges staggered with respect to each other, a traveler sleeve having an opening sli'dably receiving said bar and having bars fixed thereto and extending toward the hook carrying end of the jack bar, Said bars having a transversely extending hook fixed thereto at their ends adapted to cooperate with the first named hook in expanding a tire, a lever pivoted on said traveler sleeve, two pawls pivotally mounted on said lever on opposite sides of the sleeve and having notch engaging tips projecting beyond the sleeve toward the hook end of the jack bar, and spring means urging said tips toward the jack bar, the leg portions of the hook on the jack bar being extended across the bar and beyond it and curved toward the handle end of the jack bar to provide a hook.

WILLIAM RUSH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,571,376 Rogers Feb. 2, 1926 1,682,632 Schaefier Aug. 28, 1928 2,042,312 Huebner May 26, 1936 

